Folkminnen i förändring : en kvalitativ studie om folkminnesarkivens insamlingspraktiker

Sammanfattning

In the early 20th century, researchers from folklore archives travelled across Sweden to collect stories from rural communities and peasant society, as this culture was widely believed to be disappearing as more people moved to urban areas. These stories became part of collections that are now documented as part of Swedish cultural heritage. In the 1970s, however, these collections were criticised by ethnologists for being limited and for reflecting romanticised and nationalistic intentions at the time of their creation. Later research has argued that the situation is more complex than this critique suggests, that these collections need to be understood and interpreted within their historical and cultural context. These collections are currently archived in various folklore archives, making it particularly interesting to examine how such records are used today, as well as how folklore archives manage the collection of new folklore. To investigate this, interviews were conducted with researches and archivists from The Institute for Language and Folklore, Folklivsarkivet in Lund and Nordiska museet in Stockholm in order to gain insight into their perspectives and working methods. The findings of this thesis show that researchers and archivists tend to approach older folklore collections as historically situated products, shaped by their methods and frameworks, rather than as simply being direct representations of past lived experience. While these records are still used as historical sources, they require strong critical awareness and are mainly used for comparison with contemporary material. Newer collections, in contrast, differ significantly, focusing more on individual perspectives, openness and collaboration with external actors. The study concludes that older collections are valuable for understanding historical knowledge production, while contemporary folklore collections better reflect diverse present-day experiences. However, both are shaped by selection processes and must be interpreted in its context.